Marriott Leads Share of Room Nights in U.S.

The 2013 year-to-date results of Hotel BASE, a monthly hotel tracking study conducted by Phoenix Marketing International, indicates that the full service Marriott brand has the greatest overall share of hotel guest room nights in the U.S.

Hotel BASE tracks almost 100 hotel brands in the U.S. and Canada and has been conducted continuously since 2003. Through September 2013, Marriott Hotels has a 7.3 percent share of all guest room nights, meaning that hotel guests “give” the Marriott flagship brand 7.3 percent of their total room nights. Best Western’s share of room nights edged slightly down to 7.1 percent in the most recent wave of the study.

“When you include Marriott’s other brands (Courtyard, SpringHill Suites, Residence Inn, to name a few), the company’s share of room nights is higher than 7.3 percent but the signature brand, Marriott Hotels, is the single brand leader in the category,” according to John Antonello, managing director of the travel division of Phoenix Marketing International.

While Marriott currently has the edge in the USA., in Canada it’s another story. Best Western receives a commanding 16 percent share of room nights from Canadians followed by Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, both at 6 percent each.

Phoenix reports that overall, about 25 percent of the U.S. adult population stays in a hotel in any given month with some variance based on seasonality. According to Antonello, “With all the hotel brand options available to consumers and more coming on the market all the time, it’s quite an achievement for any single brand to rise above single digits for share of room nights. Of course distribution plays a critical role in room night share but other factors that Phoenix continuously tracks, including the availability of various hotel amenities and services and a well-developed frequent guest program play an important role in where consumers choose to stay.”